OPOs will soon have the ability to make facilitated pancreas allocation offers without Organ Center assistance

In the past, only UNOS Organ Center staff had the ability to offer facilitated pancreata to qualified transplant centers. Recently approved changes to the Facilitated Pancreas Allocation policy (11.6), however, now allow OPO staff to make these offers themselves. See Dec. 2015 policy notice.

Details

What do OPOs need to know?

Beginning August 18, if you have offered a pancreas to all candidates within your DSA and no one has accepted three hours before the organ is scheduled to be recovered in the Operating Room, you will have the ability to make facilitated pancreas offers to qualified transplant centers. You no longer need to contact the UNOS Organ Center to ask them to make the offers for you.

Transplant centers willing to accept facilitated pancreas allocation offers are indicated on the match run with parentheses around them, for example (CASM) instead of CASM.

You will find the Facilitated Pancreas Bypass button on the DonorNet Match Run page for K/P matches. It will be directly next to the K/P Bypass button.

What do Transplant Centers need to know?

Your center is qualified to receive facilitated pancreas offers if you have transplanted a minimum of five imported pancreata organs within the past two years.

If you qualify to receive facilitated pancreata allocation offers but don’t wish to receive them, you must notify UNOS in writing to let us know you don’t want to participate.

Important note: Facilitated placement only applies to a whole pancreas and not K/P or islets.

Contact

If you have questions about this policy, please contact your UNOS Regional Administrator at 804-782-4800.